Audible Book Review: Zero G by Dan Wells

This fits the target audience - children.
Zero G
By: Dan Wells
Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller, Margaret Ying Drake, Josh Hurley, Eddy Lee, Jennifer Van Dyck, Allyson Johnson, David Shih, Betsy Hogg

Length: 4 hrs and 8 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 12-06-18
Language: English
Publisher: Audible Studios
Genre: Kids, Middle Grade (ages 8-10)
My Rating: 3.75 of 5.0 Overall; Story 3.5 and Narration 4.0.

It’s one kid versus an entire band of space pirates in this cosmic middle grade caper from New York Times bestselling author Dan Wells.
Zero is just one of 20,000 people aboard a spaceship bound for a new planet set to be colonized. The journey is over a century long but luckily, everyone is in stasis, so they’ll be safe and sound asleep during the trip. Everyone that is, except for Zero, whose pod has malfunctioned, waking him up a hundred years early. His initial excitement in roaming the ship alone quickly turns to a heart-stopping interstellar adventure when a family of space pirates show up, trying to hijack the ship and take the colonizers hostage. With everyone he knows fast asleep, it’s up to Zero to think fast and find a way to stop them–all on his own.
The full cast for this production includes Emily Woo Zeller, Margaret Ying Drake, Betsy Hogg, Josh Hurley, Jonathan Davis, Jennifer Van Dyck, Chelsea Spack, Charlie Thurston, David Shih, Eunice Wong, Eddy Lee, Allyson Johnson, and Polly Lee.
©2018 Dan Wells (P)2018 Audible Originals, LLC.

Review:
Zero is a Tweener who is traveling with his family to colonize a new planet. Zero’s father is one of the space engineers who helped build the spaceship which will carry 20,000 people in stasis for 105 years. Zero is a typical young boy full of energy and mischief, poking at his older brothers. Before settling into the stasis pod, Zero bounces around the ship where he meets the pilot and the onboard navigation AI.

Everyone buckles into their pods hoping to wake up “tomorrow” in the future. Unforntunately for Zero, he is the only one whose pod malfunctions resulting in his waking after just a couple of weeks. Zero knows from his discussion with the navigation AI that no one out of a pod can survive the upcoming jump through space. That is worrisome but then Zero discovers that the pilot has disappeared, and space pirates are boarding the ship.

The pirates are a back biting, dysfunctional, misfit family who quickly move to disable the AI so they can redirect the ship. This leaves Zero as the only person who can protect everyone else on the ship. After stealing a pirate communicator, Zero struggles to foil the enemy with common life tools which he finds as he was exploring the cargo bays. There are tense moments mixed with comical situations.

The story is an easy listen although it is requires embracing unbelievable coincidences and a manipulated plotline. That’s okay as it is fun and appropriate for the middle grade bracket. I was not impressed with the boyish pranks but young people would probably appreciate that childish humor. I think this would be a fun listen for families with middle graders.

Audio Notes: The mix of narrators makes this story fun and easy listening. The voices should help keep the attention of young listeners.

Source: Free Audible Original December 2018. This qualifies for 2019TBR, 2019Audiobook and 2019Alphabet Goals.